Die A Little

Have you ever heard someone say “they don’t make noir crime novels like they used to anymore”? No I dont often either, but actually they do and I have to say the first Megan Abbott to get released in the UK is some of the best ‘noir’ I have read. I was sent this by the lovely people at Simon & Schuster to review as its not out right now but it will be soon and I think that everyone should pop this on their to read pile. Can I also at this point add… how fabulous is the cover, very glam.

In case you are wondering what noir crime fiction is here’s a lovely definition from Wikipedia “In this sub-genre, the protagonist is usually not a detective, but instead a victim, a suspect, or a perpetrator. He is someone tied directly to the crime, not an outsider called to solve or fix the situation.” Noir was also big from the 1930’s until the 1960’s and this book is set in the fantastic era of the 1950’s Hollywood glamour era, with some scenes featuring Doris Day in the background.

In this story the protagonist is Lora King, a school teacher who is quietly happily sailing through life with her brother until he meets and marries Alice Steele. Alice is a beautiful Hollywood wardrobe assistant, but for some reason Lora doesn’t trust her and even thought her brother (a junior investigator for the District Attorney) trusts her and misses Alice’s inconsistent tales of her past, Lora believes there is more to meet the eye. Lora decides to investigate her sister-in-law herself taking her into Hollywood’s underbelly a world of sex, murder, drugs and prostitution.

I absolutely loved this book and happily devoured it in two small sittings. I like a good crime and this had lashings of murder, mayhem and mystery. The other major thing, bar the era in which it’s set, that I loved was the characters. Lora starts of as a sweet teacher who is drifting merrily like a Doris Day character through life but as she uncovers more and more of Alice’s past an inner femme fetale is released inside herself which is an interesting tale along side the mystery. Alice is amazing, I loved the fact that she had this dark past that you felt she was still visiting every now and then but the rest of the time she was getting involved in charity gala’s and cake baking alluding to the perfect wife. A character that I particularly loved was Lois, a friend from Alice’s past, who is hapless and always almost lets something slip, and I loved her story. The men in the book take a slight back seat Bill is a besotted man who cannot see anything wrong with his wife, however Lora’s lover becomes quite a rogue love interest that you don’t quite trust with his hidden depths.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves great writing, noir fiction, crime or just a really good story. Yes this ticks all the boxes and hopefully Simon & Schuster will bring the rest of Megan Abbott’s novels over to the UK as soon as possible.